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Four Seasons Politics

McGrady's class-size fix cruises in 114-0 vote

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Lecture series explores world affairs

Blue Ridge Center for Lifelong Learning and Blue Ridge Community College again co-host the Great Decisions lecture series to promote international awareness of world issues through nonpartisan briefings and expert presentations on a variety of subjects. Sponsored by the National Foreign Policy Association and the Asheville World Affairs Council, the lectures are held 10-11:30 on Wednesday mornings at the Thomas Auditorium at BRCC. Cost is $40 for all six lectures or $10 each and may be paid at the door. No preregistration is necessary. For further information, call the BRCLL office at 694-1740 or email Terri Wallace at tk_wallace@blueridge.edu.Lecture dates, topics and speakers are: Feb. 15 – Conflict in the South China Sea with Jim Lenburg Emeritus professor of History at Mars Hill University. The South China Sea is a locus of competing territorial claims, and China it’s most vocal claimant. Beijing’s interest has intensified disputes with other countries in the region in recent years, especially since China has increased its naval presence. Despite rising international pressure, including an unfavorable ruling by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, China staunchly defends its policies in the region. Preventing tensions from boiling over is a matter of careful diplomacy. Feb. 22 - Nuclear Security with Rick Devereaux, a career Air Force officer and student of Department of Defense military strategy. Nuclear nonproliferation was a top priority for the Obama administration. While the Iran deal was a diplomatic victory toward this end, major threats persist from both state and non-state actors. In a fractious world, which is way forward for U.S. nuclear security policy? March 1 - Saudi Arabia in Transition with Larry Wilson, past president of Marietta College in Ohio and provost at UNC-A who served on the planning and design team to establish the first women’s university, Zayed University, in the United Arab Emirates. As Saudi Arabia struggles to adjust to the drastic decline in oil revenue, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman attempts to boldly transform the country and shift more power to the younger generation. At the same time, many countries such as the U.S. point out the lack of democracy, women’s rights and human rights in Saudi Arabia and blame its promotion of Wahhabism, an extremely conservative version of Islam, for creating jihadists. Bipartisan criticism of Saudi Arabia is rising in Congress. Both countries need each other, but they are at a crossroads in bilateral relations. March 8 – U.S. Foreign Policy and Petroleum with Jennifer Schiff, International Relations political scientist at Western Carolina University. What is the effect of U.S. petroleum security on foreign policy? For 45 years, the country has alternated between periods of energy security and insecurity, sometimes able to wield petroleum as a useful instrument of foreign policy, sometimes not. Despite the so-called “energy revolution,” the U.S. today is by no means disentangled from foreign dependence and global trends. In order to be successful, policymakers must recognize both petroleum security circumstances and patterns in the relationship between petroleum and foreign policy. March 15 - Trade and Politics with Julie Snyder, former Commerce Department official who has had wide experience in State Department trade negotiations and monitoring. The U.S. political mood toward trade has gone sour. One need look no further than the 2016 presidential contest for the popular narrative: trade means that China wins, at America’s expense. But do the numbers support that conclusion? The metrics used to gauge economic strength—Gross Domestic Product and balance of trade—have not kept up with the realities of modern manufacturing.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

Activists to protest at Sen. Tillis's office here

A group of Hendersonville activists plan to hold a rally at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in front of Sen. Thom Tillis' office at the Historic Courthouse to send a message to Sen. Tillis' about the cabinet nominees and President Trump's immigration ban. The group, called POW (Progressive Organized Women), was founded two weeks ago in a living room in Hendersonville with nine people in attendance. It now has more than 250 members on its Facebook page, organizer Jayne Jennings said. "We are collaborating with Moveon.org and Indivisible.com to voice our concerns to Sen. Tillis," she said. "Last week we had over 90 people join us. We have twice asked the Senator's Charlotte office to send someone to meet with us and they have not responded." Participants plan to record individual messages to send to the senator, whose Western North Carolina office is in the Historic Courthouse.     Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

Wyatt says revised plan addresses HHS parking issue

State Rep. Chuck McGrady said the ongoing fight over HHS construction might force him to abandon his practice of staying out of intergovernmental warfare.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Charting a path for the city's growth

City Manager John Connet delivered what amounted to a “State of the City” address before the Planning Board on Monday.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

Organizers charter buses for Women's March

More 100 Republican, Democrat and independent men and women from Hendersonville will travel Friday to Washington, D.C., to attend the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday. The Women’s March expects to draw up to 200,000 people from across the world and to be the largest demonstration linked to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Two buses have been chartered to take local participants to the march and many others are attending individually, organizers said in a news release. Donations have helped pay for scholarship seats, boxed lunches, t-shirts and snacks. The mission of the Women’s March on Washington is to send a message to the new government on the first day in office -- and to the world, as well -- that women’s rights are human rights. The march originated when a retired attorney in Hawaii posted the idea on Facebook. The next day, 10,000 people had signed up for the march. Now over 150,000 are signed up to attend the peaceful demonstration. For more national information about the march, go to https://www.womensmarch.com/mission/   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

Volk, Stephens urged no vote on county's HHS plan

In advance of a crucial up-and-down vote, Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk and Councilman Ron Stephens urged Henderson County School Board members to vote no on the construction plan for Hendersonville High School that the Board of Commissioners had approved. The calls came in the days before the School Board voted, under pressure from the commissioners, to endorse the $53 million construction plan that abandons the historic core classroom building and auditorium as a part of the county’s oldest high school.School Board members said in interviews this week that they had received calls from both Volk and Stephens. Two members who spoke with the Hendersonville Lightning, Rick Wood and Michael Absher, voted in favor of the county-endorsed construction plan. Chair Amy Lynn Holt, the most outspoken advocate for continued use of the old Stillwell-designed classroom, said she was aware of the calls but had not received one herself. She assumed that may have been because “they figured they had my no vote.”“They basically were encouraging us to not go to forward — to vote no,” said School Board member Michael Absher, who voted with the 4-2 majority for the HHS plan the commissioners first OK’d last spring. “They just felt like they didn’t want to be put in an awkward positon.”Absher wasn’t happy with the communication from Volk and Stephens.“It kind of really irritated me,” he said, “…based on public officials shouldn’t be calling another public official trying to sway their vote. I didn’t think it was right. You didn’t hear the county commissioners calling me and saying, ‘Hey, you got to vote this way.’”(Commissioners had made their position known publicly by demanding the School Board take an up or down vote on the HHS plan and pledging shelve the plans of the School Board voted no.)“Yes, she did give me a call,” Wood said. “I don’t remember the particulars so I’d rather not quote her. If I remember correctly the overall tone I got was that she would prefer we voted to stop it so that the city didn’t have to make a decision on it. I don’t remember if she said she was speaking as an individual. When Ron Stephens called me he did make it clear like he did in the School Board meeting that he was speaking as an individual and not as a member of the City Council. She didn’t put bigtime pressure. I just got the feeling she would prefer that if we voted to stop it the city wouldn’t have to deal with it.” ‘What our voters want’ In one call, Volk suggested that the will of city voters is against the county’s HHS plans.“I just for very selfish reasons hope that you would vote against the proposal for Hendersonville High School Monday night,” she said in a voice mail she left with one School Board member. “That throws it into the City Council’s lap and I know it would be very defensive for us and (it) very well might get turned down for problems with the parking and what our voters want. I know it’s a difficult situation for you and I wish you the very best at that meeting and thank you for your consideration.”In an interview on Monday, Volk confirmed she had made the calls to School Board members.“I called some of them just explaining (that) I hoped they would turn it down because it was going to put the City Council in such an awkward position,” she said. “It was so controversial and they were putting the decision off on the council. It was putting us between our citizens and the voters. I hoped they would just wait until the strong feelings calmed down and it would be discussed in a less emotional fashion.”Stephens defended his public statement at the Dec. 12 School Board meeting in which he accused the Board of Commissioners of bullying the School Board into accepting the all-new HHS plan.Both Stephens and Volk say they saw nothing in their efforts that would disqualify them from hearing and voting on an expected zoning request for the new school.“No, I am not” disqualified, Stephens said. “Before I did that I met with our city attorney and he agreed that if I stated at the beginning that I’m not there as a representative of the city but as a taxpayer and a concerned citizen it would not be (a conflict). I never mentioned the zoning. The only way I ever mentioned the high school is that I asked them to postpone that and my main reason was to to ask them to do the (Edneyville) grammar school first. And I am convinced that they are violating the law and I think that’s very disturbing. I feel like the Board of Education let the county commissioners bully them and I think they joined the county commissioners in violating the law. I wasn’t even thinking about the zoning. That’s not the reason I was there.”Stephens acknowledged that the zoning applicants may object to his comments and to Volk’s behind-the-scenes lobbying.“They may try to make an issue out of it but the city attorney strongly feels like I am not disqualified,” he said.City Attorney Sam Fritschner said attorney-client privilege barred him from answering a reporter’s questions about the matter.“I can’t answer that for you,” he said when asked if their comments would disqualify Stephens and Volk. “I can only give legal advice to my clients.” Nor could he confirm, he said, whether he had spoken with Stephens and/or Volk about their right to express an opinion about the HHS project in advance of a council decision on the matter. Fact-based hearing Mayor Volk said she has not made up her mind about the project and emphasized that in the quasi-judicial setting of a special-use permit her opinion doesn’t matter.“It’s not something that I can really talk about one way or the other because it is quasi-judicial,” she said. “We have to consider what is presented to us at the meeting. We have to go by what the ordinances say. If they can prove that they have abided by all the requirements it would get approved. If they can’t prove it, they would have to go back and make some modifications before we could approve it.”In fact, she predicted that HHS supporters may be frustrated that the council won’t be able to vote no just because some members disagree with the decision not to use the historic building.“In a quasi-judicial hearing we really have to look at the law and whether they have proved that they have fulfilled” what the city ordinance requires. “It’s not just our opinion (or the council’s view that) I don’t like this,” she said. “It’s kind of like a court case. It has to be legally binding. You can’t consider what people would like to see. It has to be what the law will allow. That’s why we have to be very careful. We’ll just wait and see what happens.”Absher also said the city had sent a letter on city letterhead expressing opposition to the county commission-approved plan. The Lightning obtained a copy of the letter. The undated letter was on plain paper and sent to the School Board in a city of Hendersonville envelope. The letter heading said it was from “A Taxpayer and Voter in Henderson County” and was intended for School Board members. “Please vote against the plan the Henderson County commissioners are trying to force upon the taxpayers and HHS,” it said. EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Stephens' last name as Edwards.   Read Story »

Flat Rock Four Seasons Politics

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Four stories to watch in ’17

As soon as they ring in the New Year, Hendersonville and Henderson County leaders will confront plenty of leftover issues and new challenges. Here are four things to watch in 2017:   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

Ask Matt ... about ups and downs of 2016

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. OK, 2016 wasn’t all that bad. We had new industry, a new cancer center, new schools, old schools, elections, wildfires, snakes and the construction of two supermarkets within an avocado’s throw of each other. No lack of good material. Here’s my annual pick of the best and worst. \/ A foot of snow closes schools for four days in January. DOT snow plows were AWOL. /\ Flat Rock Park neighbors whine about playground noise but Village Council stands its ground. Kids rule. \/ Paychecks to ex-staffer put Rep. Meadows in hot water with ethics panel. It’s our money Mark, not yours. <> City announces water restrictions during drought and cuts off water to downtown’s “mountain fountain.” Who noticed? /\ FernLeaf Academy opens as new Fletcher charter school. Note to teachers: FernLeaf is misspelled. (sideways) Unaffiliated voters overtake the GOP on county rolls. We know you’re just dodging robocalls. \/ Lake Osceola owner drains lake but drags feet on dam repairs. Summon the beavers. /\ Million Dollar Quartet rocks the Playhouse with Carl, Johnny, Elvis, and Jerry Lee. Great balls of fire! <> Trump stumps in Fletcher but leaves huge 757 jet behind. No matter, we’ve already seen the Concorde. \/ City loses yardage with Mill building preservation deal, tries a hail Mary for a hotel but the fans are leaving the stadium. /\  Laurel Park passes leash law for dogs. Cats get a pass. But no more shooting the birds in town. Tweet that. \/ Bengal tiger escapes from Edneyville petting zoo. Can’t be fake news if it’s on Facebook. \/ Garden Jubilee goers hit for cash by parking lot entrepreneurs. Come on folks, can’t you just sell donuts? \/ Orange barrels gone at the airport interchange but they will be back for I-26 widening. Enjoy. /\ Old Quality Inn morphs into cool resort with 3 hot tubs and indoor pool slide. Wheee! /\ How much law could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Well, how about two Chucks. Voters elect Chuck Edwards to the state Senate and return Chuck McGrady to the House. Good luck down there at the sausage mill boys, there’s a new boss in town. But when it comes to our delegation, we’ll find out if two Chucks are better than one. \/ Publix and Ingles get into a food fight to open new stores. Motor mile mentality comes to cabbage corner. /\ Dirty Dancing producers snub Asheville and open studio near 7th Ave. Who were those Hollywood stars anyway? <> Apple Festival attendance tops 285,000. Crowd avoidance option: Saluda’s Coon Dog Day. <> Henson beats Copelof for State House seat. Newbie with old family name trumps former Navy officer. Thanks for your service, Captain. /\ GF Linamar to build $217 million plant in Mills River. Etowah gets Domino’s Pizza. Hey, all jobs are good jobs. <> Gov. McCrory observes firefighting in Bat Cave after dealing with down east floods. Yes, he’s seen fire and rain. /\  City moves Rhythm & Brews concerts to Main Street. Beer lines are shorter. Homer Simpson salutes you. /\ County Schools rated 4th best in the state. Warning to Chapel Hill preppies: don’t look behind you. \/ Illinois stalker assaults Kelly McGillis in her Edneyville home. Actress saved by 9-1-1 call. Memo to NRA: phones do work. <> Mills River raises taxes to pay for police contract. Attention city fathers, you’re getting too big to be outsourcing. /\ Pardee, Wingate, BRCC settle into new Health Sciences Center. The City and County got the traction. High fives all around. <> First Baptist Church buys eyesore post office for more parking. Guess it couldn’t be...saved. /\ County Commissioners nix mega housing project on Horse Shoe Farm. Score one for community planning. <> Serpentarium opens in Mills River. Great for kids but not a charmed life for 200 snakes. /\ Local filmmaker David Weintraub rolls out doc on the 1916 flood. What have we done 100 years hence? Uh, well we paved paradise. \/ Carriage Park developer files for bankruptcy. Dang, we thought the recession was over. /\ National magazine taps H’ville as a top 8 retirement spot. Cool, but little ol’ Knoxville made the list too. Really. /\ Weather Channel star Jim Cantore does apple country broadcast to usher in autumn. Thanks buddy but this drought’s on you! \/ Seven Falls lot owners in stalemate on next steps to get their phoenix to rise from the ashes. It’s your funeral. <> County forges ahead with new HHS with not a penny for Stillwell building. Not to worry, the old courthouse was fixed in just 13 years. \/ Massive 3-day search ends for Pisgah hikers. Couple, dog, guitars found safe busking on Asheville street corner. Throw the bums a dime. Enjoy the rest of the year. If you still have shopping to do, forget the smoked sausage log. A gift subscription to the Lightning is a great idea and there is never ever any fake news.   * * * Matt Matteson writes the Ask Matt column for the Lightning.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

THE TOP 10: No. 1 and No. 2

2. A taxing year The Henderson County Board of Commissioners, self-styled fiscal conservatives, raised the property tax rate by 5 cents per $100 valuation and charted a course for more than $100 million worth of capital projects in the coming years. The work includes the new Innovative High School on the BRCC campus, Hendersonville High School construction, a new emergency management headquarters, Edneyville Elementary School construction and the law enforcement training center. Early in 2016 commissioners expressed support for a quarter-cent local option sales tax that they said would reduce the need to rely on the property tax. But when commissioners Bill Lapsley and Grady Hawkins failed to win a commitment from the full board to tie a property tax rollback to voter approval of the sales tax, the referendum became an orphan with no support. No one mounted a campaign in in favor of the tax. Voters defeated it by 34 percentage points. Mills River taxpayers saw an even bigger tax increase. A year-long dispute with the Board of Commissioners over the cost of police coverage by the sheriff’s office ended when the Mills River Town Council acquiesced to a new contract. The town looked at providing garbage service, at a cost of $712,000 to $950,000, but a survey found that three out of five town residents favored police coverage instead. To pay for the service, which rises to $775,000 in the third year of the agreement, the Town Council raised property taxes by 6.76 cents per $100 valuation. In December the council received a report from Sheriff McDonald that deputies had investigated 6,338 crime reports through Dec. 1, compared to 4,273 for all of 2015 and 3,586 in 2014. 1. Hendersonville High School It was clear a year ago that a major construction plan for Hendersonville High School would be a big topic in 2016. The Board of Commissioners signaled early in the year that it considered the high school a high priority. The project suddenly got fast-tracked during commissioners’ budget drafting in the spring and soon it turned into the hottest political story of the year. The controversy lasted all year and shows no sign of letting up in the new year. Led by Carey O’Cain, a retired construction project estimator and manager, and current president Bill Orr, the HHS Alumni Association pushed for a combination renovation-new construction plan that O’Cain said would preserve the historic Stillwell building for classroom use, cost less and provide more parking. Despite their efforts, commissioners voted for the new “state of the art” high school on the old Boyd car dealership property and twice more ratified the decision. After a five-hour meeting on Aug. 17 commissioners voted to stick with their original plan. After a Sept. 12 meeting, the School Board sent a letter to the Board of Commissioners making a new Edneyville Elementary School the top priority and reiterating support for the renovation option for HHS. After a joint meeting with School Board on Nov. 16, commissioners again endorsed the new construction option. On Dec. 5, commissioners demanded that the newly elected School Board conduct an up-or-down vote on HHS. A no vote, commissioners said, would mean that the county would shelve the project. On Dec. 12, the School Board voted 4-2 to endorse all-new construction. The issue goes next to the Hendersonville Planning Board and City Council.   Read Story »

Four Seasons Politics Archive